A little weird
by HautkopfofUlm
Summary: "I know you've been a little weird lately, dude." What was Guerrero referring to when he said that to Junior in ep. 1x12? A one-shot fight between Junior and Guerrero. Betaed.


**A/N: Someone posted a while ago that there's too little Junior fic out there and I agree so I had a go at it. Remember that Junior is NOT Chance, he is younger, unexperienced and confused and may be acting immature or more irrational than today's Chance. Enjoy the fight that is to ensue with a Guerrero that hasn't quite made up his own mind. And there are some parts in italics, those are flashbacks, might be hard to distinguish from the rest, so keep an eye out for them.****

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"What happened." The Old Man demanded.

Junior and Guerrero didn't look at each other. During the ride from their job to the Old Man's house Junior had intended to get their story straight before they faced their boss, but Guerrero had pulled up an almost electrifying wall of dismissive silence. What could Junior have said anyway? He was the one who fucked it up. He would be the one to take the heat for his failure. He opened his mouth when Guerrero suddenly beat him to it, shrugging:

"We got the job done. They only fought back a bit more than we anticipated. Happ-"

"Shut up! I want to hear it from Junior!"

Junior was alert and showed no sign of surprise. He knew the boss he could smell a cover-up on the moon. Guerrero coming to Junior's rescue was unexpected though, and Junior felt both grateful and angry. Grateful because he knew Guerrero's word was worth something to the Old Man; their boss had respect for his cold-hearted effectiveness; angry because the sneaky little rat hadn't bothered to warn him as to what he planned to do. This could mean one of two things: Guerrero really got a kick out of watching Junior squirm in front of their boss- or he had only just made up his mind to help him. Neither was encouraging.

Junior shrugged dismissively, following Guerrero's lead, as if the mess he'd made of their job was just some minor disturbance.

"Like he said, I didn't expect them to put up such a fight. I mean they're only business men. Were… only business men. One of them nearly got away, but Guerrero took care of him, end of story." He looked the Old Man straight in the eye. It wasn't even really a lie, he just chose not tell the whole story. The boss scrutinized him with an ice-cold glare.

"You're telling me the two of you can't handle five middle-aged, overweight suits? What do you want me to think, Junior, huh? That you're the bloodiest amateur in the business? I taught you better than this. You just DON'T UNDERESTIMATE TARGETS! YOU FUCKIN' DON'T!" he boomed. His fist came down on the desk hard, then suddenly Junior found the Old Man's face only inches from his own.

The shouted words that followed didn't even register in his brain as he waited for the storm to subside.

Of course he never underestimated the cunning of those desperate to survive. Whatever they had in store for him, he was prepared for it. Even the begging. It had been years since he had trained himself to automatically pull the trigger whenever he heard the "Please!" and the "I have a wife and children!". It was best for all of them. The victims were too surprised to have time to abandon their hopes and he, Junior, didn't have time for second thoughts. It was quick and painless.

Only this time his mental trigger had failed him. When he saw the last of the five men cower in front of him and heard the typical begging, he knew exactly what he would do, he knew he would shoot him that very instant. He felt his finger twitch- but then it just stopped. Amazed he stood in front of his whimpering victim.

"_Please… I have two kids… I'm married… I give you everything… please don't shoot…"_

_Junior stared at his gun hand, then back to the man on the ground. What the fuck was going on? Confused he looked over to Guerrero who had just finished three of the five men in the room. __Guerrero's look of confusion mirrored his own for a second before he darted forward to follow the remaining man __as he saw him dive out the door behind Junior._

_Junior was still trying to figure out why his hand had refused to carry out his order when he heard the muted shot from the corridor. A moment later Guerrero barged back in, shouting: "We gotta go, the fucker managed to call the cops before I got him- Dude, MOVE!"_

"Dude, move!" he heard whispered in his ear. Junior found himself back in the Old Man's office and Guerrero shoved him out the door. Only when the door slammed shut behind them much too loudly he realized that the interrogation was over and they were both still alive. Guerrero was examining him, then shook his head and started down the hall. Junior trudged behind.

_Without a glance back Guerrero __vanished again through the office door and Junior heard him running for the exit. Reluctantly he set himself in motion. __He still felt numb, almost __paralysed and when he passed the body of the man he had failed to execute he slowed down again and had to draw his eyes away from the nasty blood spatter on the wall. The red color finally woke his killer instincts and realizing what danger he was in he started running after his partner._

_Junior was in a full-throttle panic when he finally caught up to Guerrero at the bottom of the stairs. He couldn't care __less for the approaching cavalry, but he needed answers. He wanted to explain so much, needed to ask so many questions, but Guerrero just kept running and when they reached their get-away car he shoved Junior in on the passenger side and took off, tires squealing. They barely got away._

_Junior glanced at Guerrero and found himself unable to say a word. It was impossible to read his face, but he knew the killer well enough to know that it was not good._

"Guerrero. Guerrero, stop!"

Guerrero kept moving, so Junior walked around him and tried to cut off his path, but somehow the smaller man just kept marching.

They weren't exactly best friends. With one of them being the master of aloofness and the other being their boss's pet, they couldn't be considered friends at all, but after years of working together Junior liked to think that they had some kind of connection. Apparently Guerrero didn't share his opinion, but right now Junior didn't care. He was sure Guerrero, with almost twice his years of experience as an assassin could help him figure this out- if only he stopped sulking.

"Look- I know I put you in danger back there and I'm sorr-"

"'Back there', dude? You really think you put me in danger _back there_?" The older man snorted contemptuously. "I _can_ handle a few dumbass brokers."

Junior didn't understand and finally stopped dead in his tracks, forcing Guerrero to stop too. For a moment they stared at each other, then the penny dropped.

"What- the Old Man? You're afraid you blew it with him because of me? That's ridiculous, he wouldn't threaten you… … I'll… put in a good word."

At this last remark Guerrero burst out laughing, but a second later he was dead-serious again: "You're contradicting yourself, Junior. Make up your mind. Besides-"

"Make up _my_ mind? You're the one who spontaneously decided to come to my rescue and you're mad at me 'cause you might've dropped out of the boss's good books- you know I didn't ask you to help me, so don't you have a go at me-"

"_Besides-_" Guerrero cut off the younger man's rant and the change of his tone made Junior become quiet immediately. "- exactly how much do you think your word would be worth right now? Don't ridicule me, dude!"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Junior!"

He still didn't know what on earth Guerrero was hinting at and waited for an explanation. Guerrero rolled his eyes.

"Dude! When I said the Old Man means danger- I wasn't talking about myself."

Junior's eyes grew wide with wonder and Guerrero realized that he had underestimated the man's ignorance.

"You didn't hear a word the Old Man said, did you, Junior."

They cringed as Guerrero's words echoed through the silent hallways and Guerrero quickly took a look around to check if they were actually alone. When he focussed back on Junior he found him slightly shaking his head, but the look of shock was quickly replaced by one of determination on the man's face.

"I don't believe you. What the hell's going on here, Guerrero? First you're dodging me like I have some nasty disease, then out of the blue you help me out with the Old Man and now you're telling me the boss would… would… do whatever to me because of something like _this_? You know what that looks like to me? You know that we haven't exactly seen eye-to-eye lately, so you decided to drive a wedge between us, is that it? What's in it for you, huh? What game are you playing at here, Guerrero?"

Guerrero suddenly leaned in to Junior with a deathly glare that made Junior back slowly away from him.

"What am _I_ playing at?" Guerrero kept moving forward and Junior began to feel like a lemming being chivvied toward the cliff edge. "What the fuck are _you_ doing, man? I don't know what's going through your head right now and I don't care, but until you snap out of it, I'm gone."

Junior's back hit a wall. Guerrero's face was just inches from his own. Furious, he pushed the scrawny man away from himself.

"What do you mean 'you're gone'! When are you ever there? I don't need you to fix my mistakes! You don't know what you're talking about, I'm not in any danger from the Old Man, he-"Junior felt a sharp pain at his knee cap and, losing his balance, fell against the wall behind him.

Suddenly Guerrero was over him, crushing his trachea with his forearm and blocking his legs with his shins and feet. Too late Junior realized that Guerrero had reached the end of his rope, a rope that had been much, much longer than the past couple of hours.

"I am here right now, Junior, so you better listen." he hissed. "You think just because he gave you his name and took you under his wing you're safe from him? I've worked with him before you even entered the picture, so DON'T THE FUCK DARE to tell me I don't know what I'm talking about and _don't_ _you dare_ involve me with your crack-pot conspiracy theories. I saved your ass tonight: You show any weakness, you're done_._"

Junior could have put up a struggle, but he didn't. He waited until Guerrero released him.

Again they stood, staring at each other. Junior had never seen Guerrero that outraged.

"You're becoming paranoid, Junior." the smaller man broke the silence, now totally calm. "Just not about the right person."

With that he turned his back on Junior and with his hands shoved into the pockets of his pants trotted back down the hallway.

"Wait." Junior finally managed. This talk surely hadn't gotten him the answers he had been looking for. Instead he had gotten answers to questions that he hadn't even asked along with yet more questions.

_At least he stopped this time_, Junior mused. There was one thing he had to know.

"Why did you even help me in the first place?"

Guerrero turned around again.

"Dude… that look on your face back there? I've seen that before. With that look- you need all the help you can get. Just not from me, dude. Think of me what you will- or of the Old Man- but I don't want to hear that speech he gave you myself, so…" He shrugged. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Junior let his back rest against the wall. His knees were wobbly. _Great_, he thought, _first my trigger finger bails on me and now my legs._

While absent-mindedly skimming his hand over his sore throat he mulled over his conversation with Guerrero, back to the point where Guerrero had admitted that he would not help him again because '_I don't want to hear that speech he gave you myself _'.

Just what had the Old Man said to him? Why hadn't he listened? Maybe he hadn't wanted to. Maybe he hadn't wanted to hear the truth. He rummaged through his memory for anything his subconscious might have saved of the boss's outburst, but he knew it was too late. All he had now were Guerrero's words. And they kept echoing in his brain.

_You show any weakness, you're done. _

_Was that what had caused him to freeze up? Weakness?_

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**If you don't review, I won't write, so unless you find my stories absolutely abonimable, I hope we got ourselves a deal?**


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